12 Days of Sophmas | Day 5 | Making A Christmas Gift Hamper
Hi lovelies!On the fifth day of Sophmas, Sopho gave to you, a christmas haaaamper guuuideeeee...
I feel all this festive cheer is going to my head a little, but if you can't type-sing at christmas, when can you?!
Anywho, at christmastime gift buying and more importantly gift wrapping is one of my favourite things to do. I think that I would quite like to be an elf. Yep. I said it. This year though I wanted to do something a little different for a certain somebody. My boyfriends mummy (who as far as I know doesn't read this, or so I hope otherwise this won't be a surprise) is a pretty fab lady. She's become a bit of an adopted/stand in mummy for me over the past few years and we do try and get her special little things for birthdays and christmas because she is the loveliest. Usually I spend hours and hours scouring Not On The High Street or Etsy for something that is perfect for her, but this year I thought to myself, why not just make our own. A collection of her favourite things, the things that we would usually buy her separately, but all of them in one place. How will you do that I hear you cry? A hamper my friends, a hamper.
Essentially we have a tried and tested formula for buying for Dans mum that includes gardening things, Yankee Candles, pretty smelling hand creams from L'Occitaine OR wine/champagne and chocolates, so this year i've gone on a hunt for these things but in miniture hamper size. I got some sampler sized Yankee Candles in her favourite Christmas scents - Sparkling Cinnamon, Christmas Eve and Cranberry and Manderin (these are also fab as they make the whole hamper smell DIVINE). I also picked a single tube of her favourite jasmine hand cream from L'Occitaine, we bought her the three cream gift set last year and there was one in particular that she loved so I just got one of those. Thats the idea basically, just single or smaller versions of your recipients favourite items. Think travel size products (Boots do a massive range of these) trial size perfumes or even sample size make up items. The smaller and cuter, the better!
For the gardening element, I picked up these cute gardening gloves in House of Fraser. They have little gardening quotes printed all over them and even if she just pops them in her potting shed as a little decoration they'll look adorable. Little quirky, personal items will make this kind of gift and they don't have to be expensive. Think paperbacks of their favourite books or little items to do with a hobby, make it personal and fun to them!
For a bit of indulgence we picked up a miniature heart shaped box of Thorntons chocolate, her favourite and a few extra fun things like a chocolate reindeer and a teeny tiny chocolate christmas pudding. Most of the chocolate companies do mini versions of their bigger boxes so have a look. Hotel Chocolat do some fab chocolate slabs which would be ideal and they come in a variety of quirky flavours!
She is also a big fan of loose leaf tea so while at the christmas market the other day I picked up a packet of locally produced Lapsang tea. She found a brilliant tea company at their villages Well Dressing Festival earlier in the year and after trying and failing to order some of that for the hamper I decided to add a bit of Devon in there for good measure and when I tried it it was delicious so theres that one too. Local produce or handmade items are ideal for this kind of gift, it adds a really thoughtful touch and supporting smaller businesses is never a bad thing!
On the subject of handmade, i've been making these little festive foxes (there is a DIY on the way very soon!) as a little 'thank you for having me for christmas' present and i'm fairly pleased with how they've come out, so he's been popped in the hamper too. When people know you've taken the time to physically make something it makes gifts so much more special, and plus, it cost next to nothing to create and looks fab!
For extra little things I found these cute white metal hanging hearts at a market in Tavistock, she has hearts hung all over the house and a few extra ones can never hurt so they're in there too. Little extra things that are inexpensive not only bulk up the hamper but they also just add an extra little element. You could even use little things like this to decorate the actual basket itself and they can be used by the person afterwards!
For the hamper itself, since recently moving, i've found myself to be a bit of a wicker basket hoarder so we're just going to use one of them. It's in perfect condition as its just had some of my hair products in on my dressing table and as I appear to have hoarded about 10 baskets over the years, I certainly won't miss this one! It's saved me about £10 and has meant that it's gone to a new and very good home. I filled the basket with some plain brown parcel type paper as i've gone for a brown paper/red ribbon theme for wrapping this year. I've also picked up some snazzy reindeer covered tissue paper from Paperchase that I may wrap all of the individual items in so that theres a little more actual unwrapping to do on Christmas Day!
Hope this has been helpful!
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